There used to be a time when gang violence and street brawls in Hong Kong were the exclusive ­domain of Chinese triad ­gangsters.

Now, 20 years since the transfer of sovereignty to China, the landscape has changed to the extent that ethnic minorities – South Asians in particular – have become visible in such public ­displays of lawlessness.

On the night of April 29, at a playground in one of the city’s poorest districts, it was all-out war between two gangs of Indian men. Around 40 were involved in the fracas, wielding knives, golf clubs and glass bottles, as the ­battle spilled out of a playground and into the streets over what police said was a trivial ­matter.

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University of Hong Kong academic Puja Kapai, a campaigner for ethnic minority rights, cautioned that outbreaks of gang violence created a misleading perception not backed by statistics.

“If you put it into context, the number of crimes committed by [ethnic] Chinese Hongkongers or others do not compare with the very minuscule number in which asylum seekers find themselves involved,” she said.

Kapai warned against using asylum seekers as scapegoats for systemic and administrative problems in processing their torture and persecution claims... Click here to read the full article.